Richard oliver



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD OLIVER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

FSTENING FOR GARMENTS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 11,792, dated October 10, 1854..

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, RICHARD OLIVER, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new, useful, and Improved Button or Fastening for Clothes; and I do hereby declare that the same is described and represented in the following specification and accompanying drawings.

The nature of my invention consists in fastening one end of the eye to t-he button by a hinge or ot-herwise, and making the eye elastic, so as to yield readily in hooking, or unhooking the opposite end of the eye in opening and closing the button; t-he opposite end of the eye being provided with a hook fitted to catch into a hole or recess in the button; which hole or recess is wholly or partially surrounded with a cavity or countersink to facilitate the insertion of the hook upon the end of the eye; the end of the eye near the hook being provided -with a stop to prevent the hook from being forced in too far which sto-p may be of service in opening the eye or unhooking. it.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I will proceed to describe its construction and use, referring to the drawings in which- Figure 1, is a perspective view of the eye. Fig. 2 ditto of the back of the button. Fig. 3 is a section of the button cut off parallel with the side of the eye.

A is the eye hinged to the back B of the button as represented in Fig. 3 at c. This eye A is made nearly as long as the button, the middle portion being reduced in thickness (and may be made wider than the ends if desirable) so as to be elastic, or form a spring between the hinge c and hook a so that the latter may be readily pressed toward the former in hooking or unhooking the hook a. The eye A is provided with a knob or stop 7L near the hook a, this stop may be placed as near the hook as may be necessary to prevent the hook or end of the eye from being forced into the hole too far or against the front part of the button as I contemplate these buttons may be set with precious stones, glass etc. This stop h will also be found convenient and of service in opening and closing the eye after it is inserted in the clothes. The back of the button is raised or made thicker around the hole f in which the hook a is inserted so as to form a cavity or countersink b to facilitate the insertion of the hook into the hole f; this cavity or counter-sink Z) is of very great importance in hooking the button in the dark or in such positions on the body or limbs as cannot conveniently be seen by the person using these buttons. I have represented in the drawing a button made with a back and front plate, the two being connected with a rim around the edge; I contemplate however that they may be made with a singleplate and that the form and construction may be modified in various ways, which will readily suggest themselves to skilfull artisans without departing from the merits of my invention; and if one end of the eye is rigidlyA fastened to the button instead of being hinged it will be necessary to make the eye more elastic so that it will spring open far enough to be inserted with facility in the button or eyelet holes in the clothes made to receive it. It is hardly necessary to add that the elasticity of the eye may be increased or diminished by lengthening or shortening the thin part.

IVhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent in buttons or fastenings for clothes having one end of their eyes hinged or rigidly fastened to the button islVIaking the eye elastic in combination with the cavity or countersink to facilitate the inserting of the other end of the eye into the hole or its equivalent into which it is hooked in closing the eye to fasten the button substantially as described.

RICI-ID. OLIVER.

I/Vitnesses W. A. I-IILLYER, T. A. RICHMOND. 

